Strike plays games with Israeli hoops
After five days in which the Basketball Super League bosses and the Israeli players’ union traded threats and following the postponement of Monday’s BSL action due to the strike called by the players, the sides met once more on Tuesday evening in the office of the Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev.
The minister believed she would be able to get the parties to agree to a compromise that will at least allow the 2017/18 season to end as scheduled. After Monday’s action had to be postponed, the BSL announced that it has rescheduled the final games of the regular season for Thursday.
The BSL said on Tuesday morning that any further delay would create serious difficulties in scheduling, as the Final Four final can’t be held any later than June 14 and the quarterfinal playoffs can’t begin any sooner than next week.
The last time the Israeli players called a strike was five years ago.
The union and BSL ultimately reached a new five-year agreement which stated that every team will be allowed to register a maximum of five foreigners, but will be required to play with two Israelis at all times.
However, teams decided to sign no more than four foreign players would receive a NIS 250,000 bonus, with another NIS 1 million to be split between the league’s 12 sides based on the number of minutes played by their Israelis.
Under that agreement, teams were also compelled to have at least two Israeli players under the age of 22 and another under the age of 25 on their rosters.
The main stumbling block between the sides this time is the demand by the clubs to scrap the requirement to have two Israelis on the floor at all stages, something the players are unwilling to accept.